Well, since I've been getting mod happy on my family wagon after the warranty ran out its been fun doing all the easy mods that make a turbo car quicker like a tune and upgraded plumbing.
Unfortunately, despite being a sports sedan, like most big and heavy cars the thing was an understeering pig stock, though a quick and predictable one, lol.
Nothing a few suspension mods couldn't make better though. I'm putting off springs since my ride has an active suspension that allows me to stiffen her up pretty good as it is, so I decided to improve her lateral abilities by upgrading to a pair of adjustable track sways, running wider tires and spacing the wheels out just a fraction of an inch all the way around.
In the old days that would be all there would be to it besides some minor adjustments, but it gets a little extra complicated with my R since its got an active suspension that controls things like the strut compression and rebound dampening on all four corners in addition to the power to each wheel in order to precisely control body movement and car direction as best as it can. It also has several different modes of operation depending on whether you are interested in pure comfort, sport, or what they call advanced sport which is pretty much a track only setting since its way too harsh of a ride for most roads around here. On the stability side of the equation there are also three settings, on, reduced and off.
I've got a thread about what a bitch it was to put the sways in at the following thread . . .
New Elevate Sway Bars Recieved, 1 of 2 Installed
In addition to the new hardware, I also needed to upgrade my active suspension software to the newest version that has much better adaptive algorithms and is recommended for anyone who updates or tweaks their suspension on a car like mine. Bosch and Volvo has had quite a few years to tweak and upgrade the system since my car came out back in 04. Between the new hardware and software its like night and day with the new setup. Its gone from understeering pig to a very neutral car that is easy to push into oversteer if you apply enough power and/or steering inputs.
Thought some of you old school suspension types like I used to be would also appreciate some insight into exactly how the active suspension systems on the new sportscars take a lot of old school suspension tweaks and dynamically applies them as needed.
For the real wonky types, here is a PDF tech doc on all the sensors, modules and their functions. Page 9 and 16 are the good description areas of how the different stability and control algorithms work together.
http://www.volvoclub.org.uk/tech/2004r/R5-Four-C.pdf
For the ADD and 'I don't like reading' types, here is a descriptive vid of how things work, though the tech stuff doesn't begin till about 1:15 into the video.
S60R & V70R Promo Vid
Enjoy!
